On November 3rd, 2007 the Southeast Museum of Photography begins an exciting future of growth and renewal when its new museum building opens in Daytona Beach. The facility will more than double the museum's gallery, support and program spaces in the stunning Mori Hosseini Center on the Daytona campus of Daytona Beach College. Located directly on International Speedway Boulevard, the complex will also house Daytona Beach College's renowned Culinary program and restaurant. The center promises to be an important landmark cultural destination, and a major addition to the cultural life of Florida.

Since it opened in 1992, the Southeast Museum of Photography has enjoyed a dramatic exhibiting space, but the museum's full potential as a serious research, collecting and education institution has been limited by inadequate support and program areas. The new facility will house expanded and updated galleries on two levels, staff offices and workshop support spaces, photographic research and education areas and an expanded photographic reference library. The museum's permanent collection will move to much larger, state-of-the-art storage facilities with rigorous environmental and security systems. In addition there will be a new museum bookstore, coffee shop and digital cinema.

Background

Museum exhibitions and public programs in photography present a range of work that encompasses a wide variety of subjects, styles, themes and creative intentions, and bring many of the world's most renowned artists and photojournalists to Florida. Exhibitions are complimented with a diverse and comprehensive lecture, education and public program series featuring prominent scholars, writers, photographers, artists and critics. In the new facility the museum will present six (6) seasons of exhibitions that encompass up to twelve (12) separate exhibitions in a typical year.

One of the principal goals of the museum is to create exhibitions and educational programs that foster an active and thoughtful engagement of a very wide variety of audiences with visual culture. This is not only because we have our roots in an educational institution, but also because we recognize the importance of the visual and photographic in our culture. Photography's capacity to inform and persuade requires that a specialized museum of photography should not only display photography, but also provide interpretation and analysis.

Our curatorial approach allows for numerous points of entry for the audience and leads also to a broader appreciation and understanding of the photographic medium. The museum serves audiences for photography and art as well as all local and regional audiences, universities and colleges and schools. As a major player in our college's outreach efforts, the museum continues to seek out audiences that are traditionally underserved by both colleges and museums.

The museum will be embarking on a more vigorous curatorial program aimed at researching and developing most of the exhibitions it presents; with many made available to tour nationally. Most exhibition seasons will be augmented with a film and video series in the new cinema.

Opening Exhibitions

Abbas Kiarostami - Photographs and Film. This exhibition presents a comprehensive survey of Kiarostami's photographic art, drawn from four of his celebrated recent series with superb color and black and white prints.

Shahrzad Kamel - Journeys. A contemporary Iranian American photographer chronicles her recent journeys through Iran and Afghanistan - two of the most troubled regions in the world

Andre Kertesz - First And Last. Andr? Kert?sz (1894-1985) is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential photographers of the twentieth century. This exhibition brings together the rarely-seen early work from his native Hungary - the famed 'Hungarian Contacts' with a comprehensive survey of late, great Polaroid work produced near the end of his life.

Steve McCurry - The Path To Buddha: A Tibetan Journey. With this new exhibition National Geographic Magazine photographer Steve McCurry creates an intimate and uplifting portrait of the unique and dignified culture of Tibet. His images reveal the sheer beauty of Tibet and show us the Buddhist faith and the lives of Buddhist monks.

Opening Celebration

Join the museum staff, the college community, our academic colleagues, and artists, photographers and visitors from all over the region on our opening day. The day promises to have a festive atmosphere as all parts of the Mori Hosseini Center receive their public opening, and our parent college, Daytona Beach College, marks the Fiftieth Anniversary of its founding with special displays, activities and events.

The museum will hold an informal Open House from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm and all members of the public are welcome.

Museum Location

The Southeast Museum of Photography is a service of Daytona Beach College and is located in the new Mori Hosseini Center (Building 1200) on the college's Daytona campus, three miles east of I-95. Admission is free. Visitor parking is available.

For detailed exhibition and program information visit www.smponline.org or call the museum recorded information hotline at 386.506.4475.

Museum Address
Southeast Museum of Photography
Daytona Beach College
1200 West International Speedway Blvd.
Daytona Beach FL 32114